A complete solution for packaging designers, Studio puts interactive 3D packaging creation in the hands of the designer. Work in a 3D environment as if you were holding the package in your own hand and maintain a live link between 3D design visualization and the unfolded 2D structure. Studio offers a 3D viewing environment where designers can see their artwork applied instantly on the packaging.

Draw in any scale, dimension artwork with a mouse click, and numerically control size and location of objects or points. Just click-drag with CADtools to make design work easy and elegant — right inside Adobe Illustrator.

Concatenate connects two or more paths to make one continuous path. It's especially useful for cleaning up CAD drawings and EPS files that have been converted to Adobe Illustrator or, for example, connecting and filling state borders in vector map files.

Instantly create live, interactive patterns, designs, and ornaments in seconds. You can create replicas of selected elements. This simple feature is really the workhorse of the new version, and it will change the way you design your patterns.

Vector Repeat Pro automates repeat functions inside Adobe Illustrator, including straight repeats, drops, and shifts, and is used throughout the industry by fashion, textile, and surface designers to drastically speed up the design process.

Vector Weave Pro is a dobby weaving program for plaids and stripes, which gives designers a much faster and more efficient way to develop woven designs within Adobe Illustrator. Vector Weave Pro can use texture to generate heathers and more.

Colorist Pro enables designers to recolor artwork within repeats, wovens, and graphics using Adobe Illustrator. Colorist Pro offers the ability to flip color positions, change existing colors, and randomize colors within the artwork. Colorist Pro also creates all the technical data of a print or woven, generating the color chips and the names of each color on the bottom of the artwork.

Embroidery i2 provides the ability to draw objects with Adobe Illustrator and convert the objects to stitches within the same window. Since it's a plug-in, Embroidery i2 works on both Intel®-based Macs and PCs.

Concatenate is a plug-in filter for Adobe Illustrator that connects two or more paths to make one continuous path. It's especially useful for cleaning up CAD drawings and EPS files that have been converted to Adobe Illustrator or, for example, connecting and filling state borders in vector map files.

Phantasm adds a full range of professional color adjustments and print/publishing controls tightly integrated within Adobe Illustrator (Mac and Windows®). Familiar controls for brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, levels, curves, and more are available as filters and live effects.

Genometri Pte. Ltd. — GenoPal 2.1

GenoPal is an easy-to-use color combination and matching tool. It lets users pick a color from an existing palette or any window or picture on their computer. GenoPal will move around in over 16 million different colors to find the ones that match yours. It generates exciting palettes that you can save for later use, read in HEX, or export directly to Adobe Photoshop® or Illustrator.

Drawing and painting tools

With VectorWand, you can paint on effects such as scaling, color, rotation, translation, gradients, tints, swatches, opacity, points manipulation, and more via the toolbox; manipulate a single path, multiple paths, symbols, symbols text, or gradients; and more.

Vector Weave Pro is a dobby weaving program for plaids and stripes, which gives designers a much faster and more efficient way to develop woven designs within Adobe Illustrator. Vector Weave Pro can use texture to generate heathers and more.

Colorist Pro enables designers to recolor artwork within repeats, wovens, and graphics using Adobe Illustrator. Colorist Pro offers the ability to flip color positions, change existing colors, and randomize colors within the artwork. Colorist Pro also creates all the technical data of a print or woven, generating the color chips and the names of each color on the bottom of the artwork.

File conversion

JPEG Publisher creates JPEG files each time an Illustrator file is saved in a target location. JPEG files are created according to individual settings for the entire file, layer, or layer/sublayer combination. Then when the Illustrator file is edited in the target location, the JPEG files are also automatically updated.

Font and digital asset management

Suitcase Fusion, a professional-level font manager for the Mac desktop, eliminates font problems that creative professionals face every day. It combines the best of Suitcase and Font Reserve to provide reliable, hassle-free font management.

FontAgent Pro Server brings scalability, speed, security, stability, and simplicity to the creative community and business world. This third-party plug-in repairs, optimizes, and manages licenses for all your fonts, so you spend less time managing font collections, and your users spend more time getting work done.

FontAgent Pro 4 delivers a huge set of font management features to the Mac. You can still repair, optimize, and organize your fonts, and then build font libraries and cascading sets that you can activate, manage, secure, print, and preview.

FontAgent Pro 4 brings powerful font management to Windows. Many Windows users think they are immune to font problems, but by storing all their fonts in the Fonts Control Panel, they waste system resources, bloat font menus, slow system performance, and risk random crashes.

More than 13 plug-ins in this toolset enable you to create beautiful illustrations and designs. This set includes interactive and easy-to-use features, including patterns, tile, color, and stroke scaling features.

The PointEffects plug-in set combines four plug-ins to manipulate path points, including distortion and warping of paths and points, splitting of paths and sketch, points manipulation, and pie slicing for stunning zoom and manga effects.

Context links with Illustrator to allow you to see your concepts -- from billboards to boxes, stationery to vehicles -- realized side-by-side, while you work. Create stunning photorealistic onscreen mockups with a click.

CoCut offers sign making plug-ins that add powerful vinyl cutting features so you can cut directly out of Illustrator. CoCut plots all your designs with the push of a button. Control your plotter speed, resolution, and knife-pressure on-the-fly.

Produce and publish in one environment. Create multiple pages in Adobe Illustrator and export or print multiple pages with ease. Version 4 supports PDF, JPEG, and EPS export of multiple pages for enhanced web and print design.

Because of its strength in roundtripping text, CopyFlow Gold for Adobe Illustrator is a favorite of translation houses. CopyFlow Gold is most often used to batch export formatted text from Illustrator documents to a computerized translation system, and then batch import the translated text back into its original page location — all while preserving the typographic formatting. CopyFlow Gold works on entire folders of Illustrator documents, cuts production time, and saves time and money.

There’s a common problem when there are multiple versions of applications like Illustrator or InDesign installed on the same computer. Double-clicking a file's icon will often cause the wrong application version to launch. As a result, you might unwittingly resave a document in a more recent file format, which could be a bad thing. Maybe it's a customer file, and the customer won't be able to open the updated file when you email it back. Soxy provides a workaround for this problem on Mac OS X and Windows.

Packaging design

Esko — DeskPack
DeskPack turns Illustrator into a full-fledged packaging application. Using Esko's pre-production knowledge, you can now boost productivity and reduce errors while working in your favorite design application. DeskPack consists of a set of modules that fits any prepress environment. From importing structural design files (CAD data) to creating repetitions of print-ready production files, DeskPack offers the best solution to get the job done.

Check your incoming files as early as possible to minimize the cost of errors or to validate your designs before you send them off to the printer. With Preflight for Illustrator, your file is verified against a personal profile, and a validation report is generated. This interactive report guides you through the violations found against image types and resolutions, line widths, color spaces, minimum percent, font rules, and more.

BoostX is a portfolio of dedicated tools that accelerate frequently used selection and alignment operations and add new ways to handle spot colors and special inks beyond the powerful capabilities of Illustrator.

Embedded images in Illustrator files cannot be edited, making last-minute revisions impossible. With Image Extractor, you can convert embedded images to externally linked images, allowing you to edit them in Adobe Photoshop.

Remap channels of embedded or linked images into any used ink in the document. Channel Mapping remaps the inks of all commonly used image formats (TIFF, JPEG, PSD, Photoshop DCS, Photoshop EPS, PNG, and GIF).

A correct visualization of your packaging design is crucial in a professional environment. With Viewer, you can work with predefined press settings to detect first printable dots, simulate dot gain and registration errors, and calculate the total area coverage in your file.

Instant Trapper is by far the easiest interactive trapping solution on the market. Trapping becomes a matter of clicking the two elements you want to trap. All traps are placed on a separate layer, and centerlines are automatically calculated.

Using Esko's automatic trapping engine, PowerTrapper traps your file in a matter of seconds. You can make presets full of rules and exceptions to trap the file according to your specifications. On-the-fly modifications are made easy in the very intuitive user interface. PowerTrapper exists as a standalone module or as a client-server–based solution.

Gravure and flexo cylinders often need to print continuously, without a visible seam. Based on the input graphics and cylinder size, Seamless Repeat for Illustrator calculates the correct spacing and repeat numbers to properly wrap any design around the particular cylinder. Typical use cases are wallpaper, laminates, upholstery, vinyl flooring, and more.

Dynamic Panels allows you to make dynamic artwork information panels. These panels will automatically synchronize and display the ink, document, and/or job information of the host document or job. Define your own information panels and reuse them in all your jobs. The information fields, ink patches, and so on will be updated automatically.

Add a white underprinting ink to your file in a few clicks. Choose an ink name and a choke distance, and the correct object will automatically be created in a separate layer based on the selected artwork. This tool can also be used to quickly create finishing layers (such as varnishes and embossings).

Convert Adobe Illustrator into a fully featured, pre-press packaging workstation with RealPro Toolkit - a suite of Adobe Illustrator plug-ins. RealPro Toolkit is compatible with any existing workflows, bringing all the functionality of high end workstations within Adobe® Illustrator®. Features include: file editing and preparation; colour management; trapping; and nesting/step & repeat. RealPro Toolkit can also be extended for specialist tasks such as cylinder repeats, patterns and artwork pre-distortion. Available on Mac and PC.

Path editing tools

Andrew's Vector Plug-ins Collection
The Plug-ins Collection includes all the plug-ins from graphicxtras.com in a single collection for Illustrator 10, CS, CS2, CS3, and CS4, including Zigzag, MultiToolbox, Gradient, Contour, LatticeConnect, VectorWand, and more.

The ShapeFX1 plug-in set includes a shape creation plug-in for many shape designs plus a warping plug-in for extreme and basic warping of selected paths. Now the shape plug-in comes with additional path creation features in Illustrator CS4 for unusual and extreme path creation and designs.

Concatenate is a plug-in filter for Adobe Illustrator that connects two or more paths to make one continuous path. It's especially useful for cleaning up CAD drawings and EPS files that have been converted to Adobe Illustrator or, for example, connecting and filling state borders in vector map files.

Cutting Tools adds three tools: Hatchet, which cuts through all paths at that point, not just the top path; Saber Saw, which fence cuts through all paths that cross the one drawn; and Vector Vac, which enables you to either click paths or drag through them to delete them.

Adjust the position of a patterned fill within an object or dash pattern along a path. Clicking the arrow buttons will move the dash or pattern by one point. Holding down combinations of modifier keys will make the distance moved longer or shorter.

SymbolTexture is a texture-generator and pattern-design plug-in using symbols. Create dramatic and unique texture designs in seconds, and modify the distribution, density, rotation, and scaling of symbols.

This star creation plug-in can be used to create thousands of different star and shape designs. The Illustrator CS4 version now comes with many different layout features for even more dramatic star effects.

The RandomTouch plug-in set for random particle effects in Illustrator combines five plug-ins, including a background plug-in (using selected paths or symbols and more complex designs); a particle plug-in; a plug-in for random clutter of designs such as stars, circles, and ovals; and more.

Instantly create live, interactive patterns, designs, and ornaments in seconds. You can create replicas of selected elements. This simple feature is really the workhorse of the new version, and it will change the way you design your patterns.

Fantastic Machines Tile Tools is a set of 21 Photoshop compatible plug-in graphic filters that can be used to create amazing tileable images and textures. Try the demo with seven of the filters fully enabled.

Adjust the position of a patterned fill within an object or dash pattern along a path. Clicking the arrow buttons will move the dash or pattern by one point. Holding down combinations of modifier keys will make the distance moved longer or shorter.

Create natural-looking textures as Live Effects from gradient-filled art. The textures are created as paths. Play with the settings and the gradient to create an endless selection of beautiful effects.

Tessella goes beyond rectangular patterns in Illustrator and allows you to create not only rectangular patterns but also rhombic, hexagonal, and triangular ones as well.

Printing

ArtOptimizer
Reduce the size of images linked to Illustrator documents by eliminating excessive image data. Automatically reduce image resolution, scale images in Photoshop according to their dimensions in Illustrator and the target resolution specified, and re-import them to Illustrator at 100%.

QwikMarx is your solution for building more accurate layouts, making it easier for everyone involved to see the dimension marks onscreen or in a printout. With QwikMarx, these marks are displayed for you on the document itself. This means as an ad moves through the stages of publication, each person working on the ad has a precise understanding of what the trim, live, and bleed dimensions are, as well as what the fold dimensions are.

SmartApps Sign&Banner simplifies and accelerates the setup of wide-format signs and banners. Features include a tool for fast grommet and eyelet placement; an automatic print bleed tool for mirror, duplicate, and color bleeds at any size; banner finishing marks for folds; and design-to-scale functionality. With this plug-in, everyone designing or producing signs and banners can dramatically reduce their preparation time and eliminate remakes due to mistakes.

Color Referee is a powerful tool for anyone processing Adobe Illustrator files for print. This plug-in automates the time-consuming process of identifying the attributes of color areas and objects in any complex Adobe Illustrator design.

Scripting

Scriptographer
Scriptographer is a scripting plug-in for Adobe Illustrator. It enables you to extend Illustrator functionality using JavaScript.